Mark Webber Quits F1 For Le Mans Endurance Racing

Red Bull F1 driver Mark Webber is quitting the sport at the end of the season and moving to endurance racing with Porsche for 2014.

The likeable Aussie has apparently had enough of Sebastian Vettel and Formula 1, turning down several offers from other teams keen to keep him on the grid. Instead, he’s leaving the very dislikeable German behind and moving on to new challenges where, we assume, he feels he’ll be treated more fairly.

Webber has made his decision in the lingering turbulence of this year’s Malaysian GP, where Vettel ignored a direct team order to overtake Webber and risked putting both cars out of the race. His lack of a meaningful apology seems to have been the last straw.

Instead of F1, Webber will be spearheading the new Porsche LMP1 race team that aims to kick perennial winners Audi square in the man-tackle and steal their Le Mans glory next year. The car he’ll be racing has been seen testing already, with bosses saying the project is well ahead of schedule. His team mates will be racing veterans Timo Bernhard of Germany and Frenchman Roman Dumas.

This is big news for F1 fans. The instant the news was announced, the rumour mill spun into gear and Kimi Raikonnen had practically been given the seat. Things aren’t so clear-cut, though, with Red Bull understood to be reluctant to have two ‘big fish’ in their team. Both Raikonnen and Vettel are notoriously stubborn characters who'd like being the number two about as much as they'd like having their fingernails pulled off.

Time will tell, but the strongest driver line-up isn’t always the strongest driver line-up. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will tell you that...